Of Course, Yeah!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Soooooo I logged into my blogger account for Old Time's sake and came across this post in my drafts folder. Apparently, I was going to write an epic post about New Warriors Volume 1, # 3, like I did for the first two issues (here and here).

I've read all of the issues of the most recent volume, and welllllllllllll, those are comics alright. I'm hoping to write a little wrap-up post for when the current arc of this new volume finishes up to add my thoughts to the ether of awful comic book critique. If it happens, it will probably be over at http://www.indestructibleart.com where it will get posted. And maybe with a link from here to there. Who knows.

I just saw this awful scans that I made in 2006 or 2007 and decided to share because you can never have too much love for those first 25 issues of New Warriors.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

We talk about Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette's Wonder Woman Earth One and the outrage over Angela's new costume (which is really about the stupidity of what passes for comic book news if you ask me). Then there's some video game stuff about some studios that I am not all that familiar with.

Friday, May 03, 2013

It has been a week since I first read Jupiter's Legacy #1. In total, I have read this issue three times. In the weekly grind of collecting comics, that is a lot. Three reads and seven days later, I can safely say that this a mediocre debut at best.

I was surprised by how underwhelmed I was with this book. There was no other comic coming out this year that seemed so highly anticipated. But there it was; another sub-par attempt at super hero comics, begging for the back-seat rewrite.

It is safe to say that I'm being a little unfair.

Frank Quietly's work looks great as always. From the bright and shiny to the dark and dreary, everything looks sublimely superb under Quietly's tight pencils. Expecting another page like this one from We3 is a bit of a tall order but a we can dream, can't we?

Panel from We3 # 1

In Civil War #1, Mark Millar and Steve McNiven gave us an almost full page spread of Captain America horse-back riding a Jet Fighter. Say what you want about how that whole series shook out, you can't deny Civil War started out with one hell of a bang. Millar's Wolverine run, Enemy Of The State and Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.were exactly the kind of high octane action that a Wolverine title needed at that time. While Ultimates was a cover of Authority, it one of those covers that takes the subject matter and makes it its own. And up until that last page, Wanted looked and read great.

After putting down Jupiter's Legacy #1 the first time, it felt like something was lacking. The second time I read it, that notion went from feeling to fact. It has been 13 years since Millar and Quietly worked together on their Authority run. All of the years in between, Quietly had been collaborating with Grant Morrison, creating amazing comics all the while. During that same period, Mark Millar also rose to prominence, his work standing shoulder-to-shoulder with that of Morrison and Quietly, albeit for very different reasons. As shallow and heavy handed Millar's work can feel, it has a kind of simple and brilliant high concept aspect to it that grabs readers in a way that no one else can. A first issue from Millar was written with the edge of your seat in mind.

Where is my edge-of-seat, over-the-top "Captain America riding a jet fighter to Mother Fucking Freedom" moment in this comic?

It has been awhile since I've read a Mark Millar story from start to finish. I picked up Supercrooks and dropped it after the second issue for reading too much like Oceans 14. Secret Service? Can't even remember what bored me about that one. I skipped Superior and Nemesis completely and the reviews that follow convinced me that I made the right decision with that one. Kick Ass was a decent ride but I had a hard time separating my enjoyment for the movie from the comic itself.

If the Golden Age was last night's party, then Jupiter's Legacy is about the morning after. Hung over and hating life, this new generation of super heroes wants to be anything but. Wanna-be groupies replace damsels-in-distress and lucrative celebrity endorsements are all the rage. With an origin story that is pre-ordained by birthright, fame trumps responsibility as the next wave of heroes live out their dark existence in shadows cast by their parents.

The stage is still being set which is why we should cut this book some slack. With the pedigree of everyone involved, expecting more of the same is unreasonable so there's hope. Mark Millar's track record has shown us that we will have plenty of other things besides a dull comic to gripe about.

Looking at the slew of great first issues that have come out in the past 12 months from titles such as Saga, East Of West, Mind Mgmt, and Nowhere Men; Jupiter's Legacy is trailing behind. It could all turn around and become the book that fans expect from these two industry giants. Until that happens, this mini-series is just another reason we won't be holding Morrison and Quietly's Multiversity in our hands any time soon.

And it goes without saying: Mark Millar gets to hold the bag on this one.This was cross-posted to Indestructible Art, a podcast about video games and comics that I co-host. Check it out.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Jesus. 20 episodes have past since I have posted about them but that's okay because you have been following along, right? Riiiiiiight.

This one's a long player but it's a good one. We took the podcast to Skype a month or two ago and it is safe to say that the chemistry that came with sitting across from each other in a hot, stinky room suffered a little bit. Fear not because it is back. I hope. Did you catch that episode where I was super argumentative and maybe a little drunk? Ugh. Talk about embarrassing.

We talk about some new stuff from Matt Kindt, leaked artwork for Bungie's new game, new announcements from DC and Marvel, Black Friday console sales, and Hulk Hogan's sex tape.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Yes, this thing is still on. Still reading comic books and still ranting about them on the Indestructible Art podcast. In fact, we're having a contest to celebrate our 1 Year Anniversary. Go on over to our Facebook page, facebook.com/indestructibleart and take a look at what you can win. All you really have to do is ask us a question or two. We like questions. Questions are fun because we get a chance to exercise our big brains about all kinds of fun stuff that we may not have normally discussed on our own.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hello there, good looking reader(s). SDCC came and went and it was kind of 'meh.' Sure, we got Sandman by Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III. Also, a ton of creators announced a ton of creator-owned titles. Oh, and some people won Eisners which they rightfully deserved.

All in all, it is safe to say that SDCC '12 was the first Comic Con where comic BOOKS are no longer part of the equation. Granted, we weren't there but we've been following along for a number of years and it was looking sparse. Yes, there was a ton of great stuff that was announced but it is OFFICIALLY all about Hollywood.

Oh well. There's always Chicago and New York.

In addition to talking about the Con on the newest episode of Indestructible Art, we discuss new Borderlands 2 goodness, the closing of Team Sora by Nintendo, playing games online (and the idiotic things other people say), and Planetary.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

This one gets a little silly. The past two episodes saw one member missing from the show so having us all back in the same room together must have brought something out of us. I actually forgot to post last week's episode which had my friend Tony filling in for me but you already know that because you're totally subscribed and up to date with these things, right?

Riiiiiiiight.

This episode we talk at ya about Marvel Now, the cloud gaming service Gaikai, the EU Court decision on reselling digital content, and something or other about a Scott Snyder doing something with the Joker. Other stuff, too. Plus, you get to hear us sing Wu-Tang, the Cranberries and Iron Maiden. Like I said, it's a silly episode.

Monday, July 09, 2012

You're high if you're not reading Mind Mgmt. Matt Kindt is putting out one of the most entertaining and engaging comics that is in stores right now. Mind Mgmt really dares the reader to pull at any and all threads of the tapestry that is being woven from page to page.

Its a mystery that surrounds a flight where all of its passengers, save for one, lose their memory mid-flight. Two years after the incident, Meru, a true crime writer, decides to break out of her sophomore slumb by investigating the strange disappearance of a particular passenger on the plane. Things get hairy when Meru runs into CIA agents and the 'Immortals' that are after both parties. Surrounding all of this, we are slowly introduced to members of Mind Mgmt, a clandestine group of psychics whose origins are tied to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand from the Great War.

Bits and pieces regarding the Mind Mgmt and their motivations are given to the readers in the form of 2 page strips on the inside of the front and back cover and on the last pages of the book. The back cover of each issues teases one part of a six-part numeric code that will unlock a message at www.mattkindt.com/mind1. And on every page of the main story, there is a line from a Mind Mgmt Field Guide, providing instructions to an agent which are related, if only sometimes tangentially, to the panels of that page.

For most of this issue, the protagonists are running from the Immortals, all while finding more questions than answers. Meru runs into the first member of Mind Mgmt, Perrier, one of two psychic twins, who appears to be mentally controled to peck away at a type-writer, producing cryptic messages which speak to Meru in a peculiar way. There's a suicide. 'The Futurist', Jake Duncan (who was introduced in the case file excerpt from Mind Mgmt # 1) makes an appearance where he ruminates over the course of events that took place in the issue for a brief moment before citing his retirement as a reason for staying out of it all.

Mind Mgmt is interesting, odd duck of a book. Kindt delivers a story that seems like a simple enough mystery that only gets more and more confusing the more you look into it. Who are the Mind Mgmt? Who are the Immortals? What type of strange game have Meru and her companion from the CIA, Bill, unwittingly found themselves playing a part of? What do these fake ads for 'Mindjuice' and 'Clearhed' on the back of every issue have to do with the story inside? And what comic creator is going show up next month in the letters column, spouting off who knows what kind of nonsense?

Its a fun, well executed romp that you should be reading today. Period.

1As of the date of this posting, the URL is serving up a GoDaddy 404 page right now. I imagine that will change once the 6th issue has come out.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

I haven't said this out loud yet, but I thought the last issue of Avengers Vs. X-men was really, really, REALLY good.

Olivier Copiel came on to take over art chores from Jr Jr and it was gorgeous. And Hickman, his script really sold the story of what the Phoenix Force could do when wielded with the benevolent, albeit a little misguided, intentions of Cyclops & Co. I was pleasantly surprised by how much that one issue redeemed the entirety of the whole series up to that point.

If only Hickman and Copiel could finish the rest of this series out.

Issue 7 brings us a script by Fraction and everything feels off again. Scarlet Witch comes off like an ego-maniac. Cyclops seems to have lost his edge since the last issue where he said 'No More Avengers.' Tony Stark whines enough to get slapped by the Black Panther. Cap says 'Scramble' instead of 'Assemble', which isn't even right at all.

Copiel is still drawing a mean super hero but the fight scenes are looking a little muddled this time around. For a second, I double-taked on what the hell was going on. There are 3 panels in a row where all you see is the blonde hair of the White Queen flying around with the third panel depicting Hawkeye apparently kicking her. It's all very weird and confusing.

Despite the semi-baffling choreography of the fight scenes, Olivier Copiel, Mark Morales, Laura Martin, and Chris Eliopoulus are all doing a bang-up job. I only wish that I was left with the same feeling I had when I finished Avengers Vs. X-men # 6.

There is one very stupid question that is begging for answer at this point. If you have been following Bendis' runs on Ultimate Spider-man and Powers, then you know what I'm about to ask:

Cassaday's rendition of the Uncanny Avengers is what the eleven year old Spencer imagined the comics that awaited him would look like as he rode his BMX bike to the comic shop every Saturday. Complimented by Remender's fantastic high octane approach to blending the present with the past, this is going to be a great, fun read.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Jonathan Hickman is making some really great comics. Manhattan Projects is one of these great comics. Hickman's writing is what happens when Warren Ellis gets over the fact that mainstream comics are littered with men in tights and plays nice with us.

Manhattan Projects is about mad, evil scientists masquerading as protagonists in post-WWII America, crafting abomination after abomination in an underground bunker and the redneck American cum Army General who commands them all to do it. Hare-brained ideas are strewn throughout this book.

Granted it may be due to the era that Hickman choose, but it is nice to see some fantasy revisionist science fiction that isn't riding the steam-punk wave. It is pretty much near perfect, Manhattan Projects is.

Grant Morrison re-introduces us to the sinister ways of Talia Al Ghul. Intelligent, tough, and foxy as all get go, Talia is not a woman to be trifled with. Morrison takes us through the events that made Talia who her the person that is today and even pays it forward, adding a little extra to the mythos. At the end of this issue, Talia informs her father and the readers that the tables have been turned. Not only is she in charge, but Damian's fate from last issue is not as final as Morrison tried to fool us to believe.

Batman Incorporated is a righteous jam of a comic book. I really do need to pick up those Morrison-Quitely issues in trade.

Yes, I know. It doesn't make any sense. If Beast walked out on the Avengers in Avengers Vs. X-men, why is he at their side in this issue, fighting against the X-men? I don't know and I don't really care. Who does?

I know, I know. YOU do. Editorial oversights that allow for heroes to flip-flop between books is sloppy and unprofessional. Give it a few days. More than likely, it will be the first question asked in this week's X-Position over at Comic Book Resources.

In the meantime, soak in the Bachalo & Co art that makes an issue of Wolverine and the X-men the monthly, illustrated treat that it is while taking solace in the fact that Jason Aaron is promising us a fight between the Phoenix Five and Gladiator in the next issue.

Gladiator is from outer space and he has a mohawk. It very often doesn't get much better than that.

The 1st issue of the The Massive wasn't the best thing that I read but it was engaging and I'm willing to stick it out for a couple issues. The world has flooded and a group of seafaring environmentalists are on a mission to find their missing sister ship. Should make for an interesting tale.